The Last Morning 1939

Frank Daniel Fousek made this print, 'The Last Morning', and what strikes me first is how he’s built it all from tiny marks, hatching and cross-hatching, like he’s feeling his way through the scene one line at a time. Look how the light seems to glow from within, especially around that rooster. It's like the paper itself is illuminated. The texture is gorgeous, isn’t it? From the rough wood of the chicken coop to the soft, feathery bodies of the hens. I love the way he's handled the fence. It fades in and out of focus. It’s like a memory, fragmented and incomplete. That sense of memory reminds me of Milton Avery, especially the way he simplified forms to their bare essentials. Both artists are interested in mood, rather than detail. Ultimately, art's about feeling more than seeing, right? It's that feeling that lingers.